My mother turned 85 yesterday. A few weeks ago, her friends in Tucson threw her a surprise party right before she left to return to the Bay Area for the summer. Then, on Sunday, my sister had a little get-together party for her at a restaurant. The guests included my sister and her husband, my nephews, my ex-husband and my former in-laws (all of whom we still consider family). As my mom raved to me on the phone about how special her day was, I found myself tearing up, because... dammnit all...I wanted to be there too.

I love my life here in Canada, but sometimes it is really hard to have left a life of 40 years 3,000 miles away.